SALZBURG, Austria — An Austrian museum has opened its doors as the first dedicated venue celebrating the beloved 1965 film starring Julie Andrews.
The Sound of Music Salzburg museum, located in the Austrian city renowned for music and as the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, opened on Sunday.
Among the attendees was Elisabeth von Trapp, granddaughter of Georg and Agathe von Trapp, whose family’s story inspired both the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical and the Hollywood film. She still leads guided tours of the movie’s Salzburg locations.
“It is intimate enough to give visitors a true sense of both the film’s narrative and the story of the Trapp Family Singers — my relatives,” Elisabeth von Trapp said. “I am very proud of it.”
Her father, Werner, was one of the original Trapp Family Singers, though film audiences know him by a different name. “My father was portrayed as Kurt in the movie; his actual name was Werner von Trapp. I want to set the record straight,” she said.
Housed in the 17th-century Hellbrunn Palace, where numerous scenes were filmed, the museum distinguishes the von Trapp family’s true story from the 1959 Broadway musical and the subsequent Hollywood production.
Set against the backdrop of Nazi Germany’s 1938 annexation of Austria, the story follows governess Maria, who teaches seven von Trapp children to sing and embrace music before falling in love with their father and employer, widower Georg von Trapp.
Museum officials note that the real Georg von Trapp, a submarine commander in the Austro-Hungarian navy, was “not a strict paternalist,” as portrayed by film star Christopher Plummer, but rather “a considerate, though heavily burdened, father.”
Visitors can view nearly 450 objects, including film props, costumes, cinema posters, and music recordings. A centerpiece is the gazebo where teenage Liesl von Trapp and her suitor Rolf perform the courtship duet “Sixteen Going on Seventeen.”
Fans of the film, which won five Academy Awards including Best Picture, have long traveled to Salzburg, with several hundred thousand visiting the city annually.
John and Terry Combs, a couple from Dayton, Ohio, joined Elisabeth von Trapp on her walking tour of Salzburg.
“I love that it focuses on the movie, of course, but also on the real von Trapp family, which I’ve read about for years,” said Terry Combs. “Meeting and getting to know Elisabeth made it feel complete.”
The new exhibition is open daily until November 1. After bidding farewell to visitors with “So long, farewell” later this year, the museum is scheduled to reopen in March.
